Working for Kids: Building Skills™ offers training programs to teens and preteen youth. Children look up to older youth, they often imitate them and want to grow up to be like them. Teens and preteen youth can be wonderful near-peer mentors for young children, helping teach cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and having abundant energy to play and play!

There are benefits for teens also! They learn how to effectively teach skills and they strengthen their ties to the community.

Email us at workingforkids@pitt.edu to register for a training program and find out how you can get involved in Working for Kids: Building Skills™ programs.

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Teens Brains are Also Still Developing

Working For Teens Coach Training

We are now offering training specifically designed to offer Coach training to adults and professionals who work with adolescents, Working For Teens™. In particular our programs are designed to strengthen brain circuits in adolescents who are involved with the juvenile justice system. This training program can also be offered directly to other interested teen groups.

The brain continues to develop new circuits through 25 years of age, and the circuits developing in adolescence and during the early 20's are those governing planning, complex reasoning, decision-making, and inhibitory control. It is useful for all teens to learn how to strengthen these brain pathways, and this is particularly true for adolescents in the juvenile justice system. Not only do we have coach training custom-designed to teach about teen brain development, but we are developing new educational materials to teach teens how to strengthen these pathways (coming soon).

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Link to recent news story on Working for Kids: Building Skills™ work with high school teachers at the Shuman Detention Center in Pittsburgh, PA to develop and test teaching strategies designed to help strengthen brain pathways developing in the adolescent years: